Chapter 534: 534 The truth comes to light 1
The shop owner pointed to the six horses under the tree, “The two on the left are fifteen taels, the middle ones are eighteen taels, and the ones on the far right are twenty taels.”
Su Qingyue stood by the six horses, carefully examining them. She occasionally patted the hindquarters of one horse and stroked the mane of another, looking quite knowledgeable.
The shop owner asked, “Girl, do you know how to judge horses too?”
“Somewhat. A good horse has a high and majestic head, and a thin face with little meat. A large horse’s nose means it has a large lung capacity, which is good for running.” Su Qingyue pointed at one of the twenty-tael horses, “This horse’s hip joint is flat on its back, its four hooves are as stable as wooden stakes, and its muscles are strong. It’s quite a decent horse.”
“Indeed, you know what you’re talking about,” the shop owner immediately replied, “Originally, this horse was meant to be sold for twenty-five taels of silver. There aren’t many customers in town looking to buy carriages, and some people don’t even know about my small shop. Twenty taels is a discount for you.”
Su Qingyue nonchalantly said, “This horse can only be considered decent, not necessarily great. However, given your price, I cannot ask for a rare sweat-blooded treasure horse. You get what you pay for. I’m a farmer, and I’ll use the horse and carriage like a donkey. How about this: eighteen taels, and for the carriage, let’s just get a flatbed cart without the carriage body for four taels.”
“Oh, this young girl really knows how to bargain,” the carriage shop owner cried, “I can’t really cut any more off the price of the carriage.” He pointed at Xiao Qinghe’s wheelchair, “His wheelchair alone is worth five taels. I’m selling these five-tael carriages on consignment and not making much profit. How about this: horse for nineteen taels, and the carriage, I really can’t lower the price. At least leave me a little bit of profit, right? If you want, you could get a cheaper horse – it would be enough for pulling crops and such.”
Upon hearing this, Su Qingyue thought it made sense, “I’m not interested in the other horses. For this one, nineteen taels would be fine. And just include a cheap five-tael flatbed cart.”
“Alright, please wait a moment. I’ll get the horse and cart ready for you.”
After Su Qingyue paid twenty-four taels of silver, the shop owner handed her the reins of the horse-drawn cart and put a saddle on the cart, “Do you know how to drive a carriage?”
“I’ve only ridden horses before, never actually driven a carriage.”
The shop owner looked at her in surprise, “I didn’t expect that you could ride a horse. If you can ride a horse, driving a carriage would be simple.”
Xiao Qinghe on the side had long since changed from being surprised to being unfazed.
His wife could read and write, recite poetry, handle accounts, judge and ride horses…
He wanted to ask his wife, is there anything she can’t do?
Su Qingyue carried Xiao Qinghe onto the flatbed cart and had him sit down, then moved the wheelchair onto the cart as well. After stacking the two empty bamboo baskets on the cart, she slowly led the carriage out of the market.
“Take care,” the shop owner called out cheerfully as he had made a sale.
“Qingyue, why don’t you get on as well…” Xiao Qinghe said as he sat on the flatbed cart.
Su Qingyue shook her head, “There are many people in the market. I’ll wait until we’re in a less crowded place to get on the carriage. I’ll lead it by hand for now.”
“Alright.” He nodded, continuously watching her lead the horse.
He occasionally looked at their newly purchased carriage – a simple flatbed cart without a carriage body, but the wooden board was wide and sturdy.
Even for their village, let alone the Xiao Family, this simple horse-drawn flatbed cart was the first of its kind.
Once they left the town, Su Qingyue got on the flatbed cart and drove the carriage slowly along the mountain path towards their village.